This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
There is increasing demand for large-area, low-cost, rapid nanofabrication techniques for many applications. Such applications include nanostructured self-cleaning surfaces, biomimetic dry adhesives, nanopatterned light-trapping layers and nanostructured absorbers for photovoltaic devices, transparent electrodes, wire-grid polarizers for display devices, and optical metamaterials, by way of non-limiting example. For example, demand for transparent electrodes and wire-grid polarizers has been soaring due to their use in a wide range of applications, like in liquid crystal displays (LCDs), touch panels, organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), organic photovoltaic devices, and the like. There has been increasing interest in finding alternatives to the most commonly used transparent oxide indium tin oxide (ITO) because of chemical and physical limitations and high cost of ITO electrode. For this reason, the mass production method of metal or other conductive transparent electrodes (e.g., wire grids formed from nanofabrication techniques) is the most promising alternative for ITO electrodes and thus of particular significance. However, currently available nanopatterning and fabrication techniques are still unable to meet the required performance, fabrication speed, and cost criteria for such large-area patterning applications, for example, for making such transparent conductive electrodes or other structures comprising nanofabricated wire grids. Thus, improved nanopatterning processes are needed that are high speed, low cost, and provide superior patterning fidelity.